Carbon emissions: Malaysia slammed for peatland conversion
Over the past years, Malaysia has converted massive areas of peat swamp forest into oil palm plantations (Picture: BMF)
By BRIMAS, Miri / Sarawak
Borneo Resources Institute Malaysia (BRIMAS) strongly calls upon the State Government of Sarawak to halt its current development policy and practice of developing its 1.7 million hectares of peat soil land for large scale oil palm plantations as its development is tantamount to the build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
Over the recent years, about 750,000 hectares of land have been planted with oil palm trees. Of this, about 70% are deep peat soil area in Sarawak. With this massive clearing of peat swamp forest and conversion of peat soil land for plantations, thousand of tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) are going to be released into the atmosphere.
Peat lands are wetland ecosystems that are crucial in maintaining and balancing the state of the environment. The wetlands accumulate plant material to form layers of peat soil up to 20 metres thick. They can store, on average, 10 times more carbon dioxide (CO2), the leading greenhouse gas, than any other ecosystems. As such, the peat bogs represent an important “carbon sink”—a place where CO2 is stored below ground and cannot escape into the atmosphere and exacerbate global warming. When drained or burned, however, peat decomposes and the stored carbon gets released into the atmosphere.
In the year 2007, a study conducted by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on the role peat lands play in human-induced climate change found that the world’s estimated 988 million acres of peat land (which represent about three percent of the world’s land and freshwater surface) are capable of storing some two trillion tons of CO2—equivalent to about 100 years worth of fossil fuel emissions.
Sarawak's peat land is one of the most fragile wetland systems in the world. It is noted that 95% of peat land in Sarawak are deep peat that is more than 3 metres deep. The State Government of Sarawak target of planting one million hectares of land with oil palm by next year is very alarming. As such, the widespread conversions of peat bogs into plantations will seriously affect the environment especially when the stored CO2 are released into the atmosphere from drained or burnt of peat lands.
Over the years, BRIMAS has carry out field monitoring on oil palm plantations and found that the nature of development activities taken place on peat lands are very destructive with extensive clearing of peat swamp forest and drainage of lands. These activities had resulted in total loss of biodiversity. Most of the plantation companies have taken the easy way out of clearing the lands through open burning even though it is a known fact that it is detrimental to use fire on peat land as it is very difficult to put out. Hence, Sarawak are continuously facing and experiencing poor air quality due to haze when there is dry weather.
The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) proposals to amendment the RSPO Principles & Criteria with inclusion of specific measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions should be lauded and supported by all parties, including the Sarawak Oil Palm Plantation Owners Association (SOPPOA).
BRIMAS calls upon the Sarawak government to stop issuing new licences for plantations over any peat land areas in the state. We also urge the government to stop the oil palm plantation companies from further clearing of forest for new plantations. By doing so, the government could avoid the accusations of being label as destroyers of the forest and ecosystems by opening up lands for oil palm plantations. Not only that, the government could stand high to proof to the global community that it has taken creditable efforts in protecting and restoring peat lands in reducing our country’s carbon footprints as the world braces for global warming.
(14 September 2009)
